The 2018 Winston Cup Series: Kyle Busch back on top

Kyle Busch leads Kevin Harvick on his way to winning at Texas, his third victory at the track.

     While very brief, Kyle Busch ended any 'slump' speculation Sunday, winning the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch has been one of 2018's hottest drivers so far, with four-straight finishes of 2nd or 3rd heading into the race... He led 116 of 334 laps at Texas, for his first win of the season. Kevin Harvick finished 2nd, followed by Jamie McMurray in 3rd, and Erik Jones in 4th. The race concluded with a battle between Busch and Harvick, with Harvick unable to reel in the #18. With the win, and the misfortune of several drivers, Busch now sits atop an 18-point lead only 7 races in...

Brad Keselowski (2), Denny Hamlin (11), and Jimmie Johnson (48) are involved in a 7-car crash on lap 179. The three drivers finished 33rd, 34th, and 35th.

     The race was marred by several crashes involving high-profile drivers. In Stage 1, Martin Truex Jr. was running 2nd, when he cut a tire and crashed coming off of turn 4... On lap 128, Kyle Larson suffered a hard crash in turn 2 after cutting a tire. He was running 4th at the time... A 7-car melee ensued at the start of Stage 3, when Denny Hamlin got loose and triggered a wreck involving himself, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, and Jimmie Johnson. The crash took all four drivers out of the race... And with 31 laps to go, Ryan Newman cut down a tire on the frontstretch and slapped the outside wall...

Kyle Larson exits his car after a hard crash in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500.

     This opened the door for several other drivers to have good finishes. Darrell Wallace Jr. brought home an 8th for Richard Petty Motorsports, and William Byron got his first top-10 of the year, finishing 10th... Ty Dillon finished a solid 13th, and Matt DiBenedetto finished 16th... Ross Chastain, Cole Whitt, and Gray Gaulding all finished inside the top-20... and Landon Cassill drove StarCom Racing's #00 to a 21st place finish.

     Taking a look at the classic point standings after 7 races, Busch now holds an 18-point lead over Joey Logano, and 21 over Ryan Blaney. Clint Bowyer, after another strong run, moves up to 4th place... Truex Jr. dropped from 1st to 5th, after finishing dead last at Texas... Kevin Harvick re-enters the top-10, along with Erik Jones... 
     Up next, the Cup series visits Bristol for the second short track race of the year. Kyle Busch has an excellent chance at posting back-to-back wins; he won Bristol's night race last August... Kyle leads among active drivers there, with 6 Bristol wins. His brother Kurt is in 2nd among actives, with 5 wins, but none since 2006... Johnson, Harvick, Keselowski, and Logano have all won at Bristol twice in their careers...